Bermuda insurance veteran Don Kramer has stepped down as CEO of Ariel Holdings Ltd., five years after founding the company, it was announced late on Friday.

Mr. Kramer, who will become non-executive chairman of the company, will be succeeded in the role by George Rivaz, president of the company and non-executive chairman of Ariel Reinsurance Ltd. and Atrium Underwriting Group - the company's two main subsidiaires.

Mr. Kramer, 72, the former vice-chairman of Ace Ltd., was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bermuda Insurance Institute in 2008. He has a reputation as a long-time insurance dealmaker and was instrumental in founding Ariel along with some of the world's leading private equity investors in December 2005 in the wake of that year's devastating hurricane season.

The company had grown its equity to more than $1.7 billion by the end of last year and announced record profits for the fiscal year 2009.

"George has demonstrated that he is a truly talented insurance leader who has not only a deep understanding of underwriting strategy and risk management, but also a commitment to developing talent throughout the organisation," he said.

"George was a key player in establishing Ariel Re's franchise, led our acquisition of Atrium in 2007, and has positioned the company well to take advantage of opportunities ahead. George and I have been associated together on and off for the last 16 years and I have the utmost admiration for his ability. I am both grateful to him for his contribution to the success of our company and confident that he is the right choice for leading it forward."

Mr. Kramer, who is originally from New York, with a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Brooklyn College and a Master's of Business Administration - in Economics and Investments - from New York University, went on to work on Wall Street as an insurance analyst, prior to setting up Oppenheimer Re, his first company based in Bermuda in 1974.

He left and returned to the Island in 1993 as chairman and CEO of Tempest Reinsurance (now Ace Tempest Re), a property catastrophe reinsurer he had founded a year earlier, in the wake of Hurricane Andrew.

Mr. Kramer, who also co-chaired this year's Bermuda First Report, became vice-chairman of Ace in 1996, after his company was acquired by the giant insurer. On his retirement from the board of directors in 2004, he stepped into the ambassadorial role of executive, Office of the president and CEO.

He also served as chairman and director of Assured Guaranty Ltd. until May 2005, a company spun off from Ace in 2004.

Prior to his role with Tempest Re, Mr. Kramer was president of his own firm, Kramer Capital Corp. between 1995 and 1999, and before that was chairman of the board and founder of NAC Re Corp. from 1985 to 1993, a company he developed from an inactive shell. He is currently a director of the National Benefit Life Insurance Co. of New York, (a subsidiary of Citigroup), of Atrium Underwriting and of Valiant Insurance Group.

Last year, rumours of a merger between Ariel Re and Aspen began to circulate, with Aspen mooted to be Ariel's third suitor during 2009, and Ariel was also linked with a takeover bid for Lloyd's of London insurer Chaucer Holdings in December 2008.

The company moved into state-of-the-art new offices at Victoria Place last year after its staffbase expanded from 15 to 60 during 2007-2009 and, in August 2009, it opened a branch office in Switzerland to make its first venture into the credit and surety reinsurance market.

In July 2007, Ariel moved into the Lloyd's of London market, announcing it has reached an agreement to buy Atrium Underwriting for $396 million.